Tag Archive: Beginners


2011 IN REVIEW : MOVIES

Filed under: Movies — 2 Comments
December 30, 2011

I had fun compiling a list of best British cult movies but putting together a year’s best of list is a taller order as I don’t actually go the cinema that much these days.

I tend to be a little over dependent on DVDs and downloads which often means I miss stuff or see things late.

I just about managed to put together a top ten, however, although keen-eyed buffs will note that some of these were actually released in 2010.

1. Tree of Life. 

Terrence Malick’s epic was panned by some and booed at Cannes but for ambition, scope and sheer beauty movie experiences don’t come much better than this. Continue reading →

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THUMBSUCKER BLUES

Filed under: Movies, Parenting — Leave a comment
October 24, 2011

THUMBSUCKER directed by Mike Mills (2005).

Is this a thumb I see before me?

Having thoroughly enjoyed the movie Beginners, I wanted to see Mike Mills’ debut for my own compare and contrast motives.

The thumb sucker of the title is a bright but painfully shy teenager named Justin Cobb (Lou Taylor Pucci). After a series of mishaps, the school authorities diagnose him as suffering from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Justin starts taking the drug Ritalin.

Under this stimulation/medication he is able to read Moby Dick straight through and become a prize-winning member of the school’s debating class. The problem is that this also turns him into a precocious smart-ass so that a teacher who starts by being enthusiastic and supportive and ends by concluding “In my professional opinion you’ve become a monster”. Continue reading →

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LIFE, LOVE AND DEATH FOR BEGINNERS

Filed under: Gender, Movies, Parenting — Leave a comment
October 22, 2011

Beginners cast , clockwise: Oliver (Ewan McGregor), Arthur (Cosmo), Hal (Christopher Plummer) + Anna (Mélanie Laurent)

Beginners, directed by Mike Mills,is one of those modest, yet quietly brilliant , movies that gets universally praised by the critics but largely ignored by the public.

It would have passed me by too had I not been intrigued to learn why it had garnered such acclaim at both Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes.

It fully deserves this praise because it stands head and shoulders above the relentless spate of  brash and largely forgettable Rom-Coms.

Unlike those films, Beginners is not aimed at  libidinous teenagers but is interested in showing modern love (both straight and gay) in a way that makes us both understand and care for the characters.

The movie’s themes mirror  the colours of the rainbow flag used as a symbol of the Gay Pride movement: red for life, orange for healing, yellow  for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic, blue for serenity, and violet  for spirit.

There is no slapstick humour or crude innuendo yet it is both funny and sexy. It is touching and sad too but not in a downbeat way. Continue reading →

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